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The Capt. Samuel Willard home

1 pp 1850

This dwelling is on Neck Road near the railroad tracks and Current Topics Club in Lancaster Center. It was built in 1727 by Capt. Samuel Willard. During the Revolutionary War, a descendant, Col. Abijah Willard, remained a loyalist, or Tory, and went to Nova Scotia. The government confiscated the Lancaster property, but family members were allowed to remain. The last family member to live in the house was his granddaughter Anna (Goodhue) Wilder, who died in 1862.

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The Captain John Bennett house

1 pp 1850

The Captain John Bennett House, near the Nashua River on Route 117 in North Lancaster, was built in 1717. Local legend identifies this house as a stopping place on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves escaping to Canada. This, however, has never been substantiated. From 1872 to 1874, the house was occupied by the first Adventist missionary, J.N. Andrews, who revised his History of the Sabbath while living there.

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The Captain Samuel Ward house

1 pp 1850

This house (no longer standing) was already an old place when acquired by Capt. Samuel Ward of Worcester in 1768. In Lancaster, he ran a large mercantile establishment and was a prominent citizen of the town for 59 years. Much later, the dwelling, located on the corner of Main Street and George Hill Road in South Lancaster, was owned by the Hosmer family, who sold the property to Atlantic Union College. A new men's dormitory, Lenheim Hall, was built on the site and dedicated in 1956.

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The Carr farm

1 pp 1850

This view taken from a pasture below, shows the Carr Farm, which was once located in the Harvard Road area. E.W. Carr was a native Lancastrian who served the town as a selectman for many years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The buildings were demolished when Fort Devens took over the area.

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The Carter and Andrews publishing firm

1 pp 1903

Shown patriotically decorated for the town's 250th anniversary is the former Carter and Andrews publishing firm on the corner of Main Street and Barnes Court in Lancaster Center. In the early 19th century, the firm was among the leading in the country in the line of printing engraving, illustrating, and binding. At one time, the company employed nearly 100 people. However, the business went to pieces in the Panic of 1837.

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The Carter-Andrews tenant house

1 pp 1900

Patriotically decorated for the town's 250th anniversary is this former Carter and Andrews tenant house in Lancaster Center. At the time this photograph was taken in the early 1900s, it was called the Club House. Seated from left to right are the following: (front row) Emma Floyd and Alice Carr MacDonald; (back row) Isabella Lyman and Sarah Thurston.

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The Carter-Washburn house

1 pp 1891

Near the intersection of Route 117 and North Main Street, the gracious, Federal-style Carter-Washburn House was built in 1812 by Dr. Calvin Carter. It was later occupied by retired Boston businessman John M. Washburn. Washburn, who resided in Lancaster until his death in 1861, lost two sons in the Civil War--Capt. Edward R. Washburn and Col. Francis Washburn. This photograph was taken in 1891.

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The Center School

1 pp 1903

Designed by Herbert D. Hale of Boston, the Center School was constructed in 1903-1904 at the cost of more than $35,000. In keeping with the architectural style on the Lancaster Town Green, it was recommended that it be Bulfinch Colonial. When it first opened, the second story was used for high school students and the first story for lower grades. Most recently, the entire building has been used to house the elementary grades.

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The Center trolley stop

1 pp 1894

The electric road was opened between Fitchburg and Worcester in 1894-1896. The trolley stopped in the center of town between the Lancaster Hotel and Safford Store. The open cars, called "breezers," made for cool traveling on hot summer days. When the Clinton-Lancaster Company merged with the Leominster-Clinton Company, larger, four-motor cars were purchased, increasing the top speed from 20 to 35 miles per hours.

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The Chandler residence

1 pp 1867

This residence, located at 918 Main Street, was built in 1867 by retired Boston lithographer John Greene Chandler (1815-1879). Chandler was a wood engraver who trained at the Carter and Andrews firm in Lancaster. His most famous toy book was an adaptation of the Chicken Little folk tale. His daughter Alice Greene Chandler (1851-1935) was a librarian for the town and a talented photographer. Many of her photographs appear in this book.

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The Col. John E. Thayer estate

1 pp 1886

This view shows the beautifully landscaped Col. John E. Thayer estate on George Hill. The architects for the mansion, which was built in 1886, were Boston's John Hubbard Sturgis and one of his nephews, R. Clipston Sturgis. After the Thayers passed away, their youngest son Duncan had 14 rooms from the house. It stayed in family hands for several years and is still a private residence today.

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The Colonel Francis B. Fay house

1 pp 1850

The home of prominent Lancaster citizen Col. Francis B. Fay (1793-1876) was once located in an Elm Grove near the corner of Main Street and East George Hill Road in South Lancaster. After his death, the property, with its beautiful trees, was acquired by the Thayer family and the Eugene van Rensselaer estate, Fairlawn, was built on the site. The Fay residence was relocated to a site on George Hill.

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The Capt. Samuel Willard home

The Captain John Bennett house

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The Carr farm

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The Chandler residence

The Col. John E. Thayer estate

The Colonel Francis B. Fay house